Material on this website is copyright and may not be reproduced without the permission of the Kent Phoenix.

Our Under 19 squad – the South East Legion – ended their 2024 season with disappointment Saturday with two shutout losses in the Division 2 Southern Conference as Berkshire played host for the next round of fixtures. After starting the season so brightly with two wins in their first three games, the Legion ended with five straight losses and were officially eliminated from playoff contention this week even though the other teams in the league still have games to play.

It was a particularly tough end for our five seniors (pictured right) – from L to R Ivan, Tom, Lucas, Aleks and Joe – who now ‘age out’ of under 19 football and will move onto either university or adult ‘ball. Nonetheless with so many of our players returning for 2025 while other stronger teams in Division Two suffer greater numbers graduating out of this age group, we remain hopeful for the future as we continue to build our competitiveness and help our young players maximise their talents.

Poole Dolphins vs South East Legion

The first game of the day saw a re-match between the Legion and the Poole Dolphins. Having beaten Poole earlier in the season, the Legion came into the game confident of a result but also wary of a dangerous Poole side who had upset the Wembley Stallions the week before.

The two sides traded drives in the early goings with neither offense able to make an impact or sustain a drive towards their opponent’s end-zone. The defenses definitely had the upper hand. It was the Legion that came closest early after a good drive led by Nate at QB stalled deep in Poole territory. A 4th down screen play worked beautifully but RB Olly was pushed out by a heroic Dolphins rearguard at the 1 yard line and Poole survived.

Indeed, it was curiously a Legion interception that turned the game in the Dolphins’ favour. After Sam picked off the Poole QB deep in Dolphin territory, our offense had a great chance to score the first touchdown of the day. But a bad exchange between Nate and Olly gave the ball straight back to the Dolphins and the air was sucked out of the Legion sideline. A deep shot on 2nd down the Dolphins in scoring territory and a couple of plays later, another deep pass to the endzone gave the Dolphins the lead.

With the half-time score just 0-7 in favour of Poole, it was all to play for but the Legion offense couldn’t get going. Penalties, the occasional bad snap or missed assignment all made life hard. But we have to pay credit to Poole as well who had adjusted their defense since our first game and did a great job nullifying our best threats.

The Dolphins pulled away late in the game after more defensive heroics. A cornerback blitz forced a sack on first down and then, on second down, a great play by the Dolphins safety forced an interception. Only Nate’s last ditch tackle prevented the pick six for the Dolphins, who have made a habit of late of scoring defensive touchdowns.

Nonetheless, the Dolphins had great field position and capitalised with a run around right end for the short touchdown and a 14-0 final score. After going 0-3 to start the season, the Dolphins wins over Wembley, ourselves and later in the day over Berkshire moved them back to 3-3 and the edge of playoff contention. Our congratulations to them on a good win.

South East Legion vs South Wales Warriors

In their second and final game of the season, the Legion faced a very tough task. The South Wales Warriors had just put up 77 points in an easy win against Berkshire and their record stood at 4-1, top of the Division and led by a number of players who are in their senior year with size and talent. Given the distance to the tournament for South Wales from Reading, they had just the bare minimum number of players on the roster but they weren’t in any way daunted and came out of the blocks quickly. They drove the ball downfield on the opening series and their RB dove in for the short-range touchdown. A two point extra point made it 8-0.

For the rest of the first half, the Legion defense played the Warriors tough. They held them out of the endzone on successive possessions and tried to give the offense room to maneuver. Senior OLB Joe Malloy was a particular terror. 4 tackles and 4 assists and half a sack to add to the 5 tackles and sack he had against Poole earned him the golden MVP ball of the day. Nonetheless, the Legion couldn’t get very much going on offense at all. The Warriors defensive line was winning up front and making life difficult for Lucas, Nick and Adam, our offensive line, to get any kind of traction. Nick and Adam ended up winning silver game balls for their sterling effort trying to handle a truly disruptive South Wales defensive line.

Just before half-time, there was a key shift in momentum. After a three yard loss on first down backed up the Legion on their own goal-line, a fumbled exchange in the endzone forced QB Nate to fall on the ball and give up a safety. It also gave possession back to the Warriors and they capitalised. Three plays brought the Warriors into range and a lovely fake handoff from their QB had everyone going the wrong way while he raced right and piled his way into the endzone for an 18-0 half-time lead.

The second half started as the first-half finished. South Wales added a touchdown on their first drive after the break with the play of the day. Backed up inside their own five, the Warriors RB took the pitch right and slalomed 48 yards for the touchdown. After a bad snap led to another turnover on downs for the Legion offense, the Warriors made it safe with a long pass to close out a comfortable 32-0 win. They certainly look to be one of the class sides of the division with legitimate ambitions for the division title.

Player awards

The other games

Berkshire Renegades vs South Wales Warriors

Berkshire Renegades vs Poole Dolphins